Beyond the headlines: Kapp's back, GG need stability, & DC's Jonassen Gambit!

Beyond the headlines; DC v/s GG, Game 10 of the WPL

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Feb 25, 2025

Delhi Capitals beat the Gujarat Giants by 6 wickets tonight after the GG batting order collapsed in the first innings.

But, what happened beyond the headlines?

Marizanne Kapp has found herself some powerplay form, the GG top order is truly abysmal (and the coaches are as much to blame), Bharati Fulmali played an amazing late order innings for GG in impossible conditions, & DC’s Jess Jonassen surprise worked a treat.

Kapp’s hitting top form in the powerplay

Written by Aksay Ram M. You can follow him on Twitter, Instagram & YouTube.

Marizanne Kapp has been the best powerplay bowler in the WPL, taking 16 wickets at an economy of 4.5 in the first two seasons. She also has the best dot ball percentage (61%) in the history of the tournament (min. 5 games).

However, this season she’s started slow, with just 1 wicket in 6 powerplay overs, an 8.3 economy, and a dot ball percentage of 50%.

Tonight, Kapp played with the line of the ball and made the batters dance to her tunes. In her first over against Harleen Deon, she bowled 3 out swingers; starting on the off stumps and moving away. Then, in her next over, Kapp bowled a little wide of the wicket, creating an imaginary width for Deol to play an out swinger away from her body. Deol only succeeded in edging it to the keeper instead.

Against the talented left hand batter Phoebe Litchfield, Kapp bowled two balls swinging away from her. Then, on her third ball to the Aussie, Kapp bowled her primary weapon against left-handers; the in swinger. Kapp’s delivery picked up extra movement off the pitch caught Litchfield plumb.

In the powerplay tonight, Kapp took 2 wickets in 3 overs, giving away just 7 runs at a 67% dot ball percentage. The South African looks like she’s back to her best!

Data from ESPNcricinfo.

Have Gujarat Giants already pressed the panic button?

Written by Ritwika Dhar. You can follow her on Twitter.

Before tonight, GG’s top three had been the least productive in WPL 2025, managing just 102 runs in 3 games at a sluggish strike rate of 92.72. Every other team has 200+ runs from their top 3 at a strike rate above 124.

The team’s answer was to drastically change their top order (again) despite the strategy not working in the past. After dropping Laura Wolvaardt tonight, GG have now used 6 different players as openers - the most in WPL history. At No. 3, they’ve also fielded 4 different batters since the 2023 WPL (second only to UP Warriorz’s 7).

In their first 3 games, Mooney (SR 104.16) and Wolvaardt (SR 80.00) combined for just 89 runs at a strike rate of 102.29. However, they are also the 4th most successful opening duo in WPL history across two and a bit seasons. They’ve scored 301 runs at an average of 33.44 together, including one 100+ and one 50+ partnership in 9 innings.

GG’s latest experiment—sending Deol and Litchfield in the top three—backfired immediately. Before today, Deol only opened for GG once scoring 22 off 31, while Litchfield had 3 innings at No. 3 in 2024, scoring 38 runs at a 90.47 SR. Neither Deol (5 off 10) nor Litchfield (0 off 3) pulled up any trees tonight.

As if things weren’t bad enough, both Mooney (10 off 11) Kashvee Gautam (a golden duck) got out within an over too. Overall, GG has the lowest powerplay run rate this season and the trend continued tonight. They could only muster just 37/4 at the 6-over mark, marking their second consecutive game losing 4 wickets in the powerplay despite all the changes.

Something Michael Klinger and the GG coaching staff might want to look into is giving players a longer rope. Poor form is rarely solved via constant chopping and changing.

Data from ESPNcricinfo.

Bharati Fulmali’s “pinch-hitting” growth

Written by Krithika Venkatesan, who works as a talent scout with RCB. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

Bharti Fulmali once again came to Gujarat Giants' rescue against Delhi Capitals, just as she did last season. In 2024, the Vidarbha batter scored 42 off 36 balls, and today, she remained unbeaten with 40 off 29 deliveries.

Fulmali has carried the "pinch-hitter" tag since her debut in 2011. She earned a place in the Indian team in 2019 for the same reason. In the final T20I she played, India needed just three runs off the last over, but she played three dot balls and ended up on the losing side. She has not played for the national team since.

This match had a huge mental impact on Fulmali's career. It prompted her to change her approach and play with more responsibility. The most notable changes she made to her game were improving her running between the wickets, and being more selective about which deliveries to attack for big shots.

In the Vidarbha team, Fulmali plays a similar accelerator role in the middle order as she does for GG. Over the last three seasons, in both List-A and T20 formats, she has adapted her game to match the situation, playing a key role in Vidarbha's journey to the knockout stages of the Senior One Day Trophy in the 2023/24 season.

Fulmali has always been a strong player against spin and loves to hit through the square, straight, and cover regions. Even today, she dominated the spinners, scoring 30 runs off them.

For her first 13 deliveries tonight, she did not take a risk and played solid defence. Before the 15th over, she had only scored 14 (16), with a control percentage of 81%.

She changed tack after the strategic timeout. After missing two deliveries in the 15th over, she dispatched Minnu Mani over the legside for a 6. In the 16th over, she took on Jess Jonassen, hitting her for a 4 and a very similar looking 6. By the end of the innings, she had scored 40* (29) at a still very high control rate of 76%.

Notably, she notched up 14 runs by going straight, while 13 runs came through square and fine leg. If this were the Fulmali of 2019, blocking or defending wouldn’t have been part of her game. She would have looked to attack from ball one, continuing to swing at every delivery regardless of the outcome.

Data tracked by Krithika personally.

DC tricked everyone with their new No. 3

Written by Shayan Ahmad Khan. You can follow him on Twitter.

“That was a bit of a shock to see Jona come out [at No.3]!”

Even the commentators laughed at GG captain Ash Gardner’s honest admission to a DC strategy that took everyone on and off the pitch by surprise. By all accounts, it even took Jonassen by surprise, as she said, “Loved it. Bit surprised by the opportunity, but always happy to take it!”

This season Jemimah Rodrigues had scored 92 runs in 4 innings at a strike rate of 143.75 for DC at No. 3. She hadn’t been dismissed in the powerplay either, scoring 40 runs off just 29 balls in the first 6 overs. And yet, DC sent out Jonassen.

Meanwhile, this was the first time the Aussie allrounder batted at first drop for the Delhi Capitals. Before today, each of Jonassen’s 14 innings for DC came in at No. 6. Her last knock at No. 3 in T20s for any team came in late 2021. And, it’s not like she had a great record - she’d only averaged 17.2 at a SR of 83.2 during her previous stints during the first 6 overs. And yet, DC sent out Jonassen.

Maybe context will help?

Gujarat’s opening bowlers – Deandra Dottin and Kashvee Gautam – were able to keep DC’s opening duo of Meg Lanning and Shafali Verma quiet via disciplined bowling. The DC captain could attempt just three cut shots in all - her bread and butter - off a wide, plus the two legal deliveries that only resulted in one single. Eventually, Gautam bowled Lanning with a great in swinger.

(Side note: Somehow the Aussie has already been bowled 3 times versus pace this season, and 10 times in 28 innings in all franchise cricket since the 2024 Hundred!)

When Jonassen walked out to face Gautam, the GG bowlers had their tails up. The Aussie edged her first delivery over the slip cordon and away for a lucky 4. It would be the last time anyone would get a sniff of the promoted pinch-hitter’s wicket tonight. Nobody could touch her, as Jonassen scored her maiden WPL half-century (61* off 32) at a control rate of 72%.

Even Ash Gardner, who had picked up 4 wickets before today, couldn’t do anything. The DC left-hander had scored just 91 runs off 72 balls against Ash Gardner before tonight, getting out 4 times in the 17 innings they’ve faced each other. But today, Jonassen easily scored a couple of boundaries against the dangerous off spinner.

In theory, sending the left handed Jonassen to bat alongside the right-handed Shafali Verma could help disrupt the GG bowlers’ line and lengths. Since Minnu Mani was the only other left-hander in the lineup and bats at No. 11 for DC, Jonassen was the obvious candidate.

Or maybe, as ESPNcricinfo’s Hemant Brar mentioned on their ball-by-ball commentary, Jonassen was sent out to exploit the shorter leg side boundary. Which she did, scoring 3 boundaries there. Though, she did also score in every other direction too on her way to nine 4s and two 6s.

Whatever the reason, DC pulled off an incredible batting strategy that had the opposition captain and commentators laughing out of impressed confusion after the match. But, is this a permanent change, or just a disruptive experiment because they started slow in a chase of 128 runs tonight?

Data from Cricmetric and ESPNcricinfo.

*A previous version of this analysis stated that Jonassen’s powerplay numbers before today were 18.8 at a SR of 82. The piece has been corrected to reflect her real numbers (17.2/83.2).